Photo: Dacia
It is also worth preparing for the fact that it is relatively easy to choke, in return, once the 1.2 Duster is in full swing, it is completely usable, and it has enough power even outside the city. Its six-speed manual transmission is familiar from other models of the concern, if not very precise, it can be switched quite easily, and due to its ratio, the engine is particularly quiet on the road. In such cases, it is noticeable that its rolling has become much quieter, but at the same time, there is no news of acoustic glazing, so you can hear a little rustling of the wind. The steering seems a little insensitive, but its precision and lack of force are suitable for everyday needs.
Photo: Dacia
Go to the field or barely eat?
The same is true for the chassis, which is not sporty, but sufficiently stable in corners and provides quite good suspension even on 18-inch wheels – as it turns out, even on a gravel, stony, water-flowing mountain road. If this is not enough, you can request the 1.2 engine with all-wheel drive as an option, which has the advantage of the demanding, multi-link rear suspension, while the shorter first gear is less fortunate on weekdays. In any case, the 4×4 Duster with drive mode selection has proven itself on off-road with pit crossings, diagonally climbing humps and other tasks, making it more and more unique among small SUVs.
Photo: Dacia
But what about the other top model of the offer, the 1.6 naturally aspirated petrol plus two electric motors self-charging hybrid? Although the system output of 140 horsepower sounds good, it is not really the bread and butter of sportiness, especially when the 1.2 kWh battery runs down, in which case the occasional noise of the internal combustion engine is somewhat disturbing.
and the control of the two plus four-speed, clutchless MultiMode gearbox does not always make logical decisions either.
But taking the figure more calmly, the system becomes really pleasant, switching between electric and gasoline drive imperceptibly, and at the end of the day, we measured the average fuel consumption of the hybrid car at 5.4 l/100 km.
Photo: Dacia
All in all, there is hardly any question that the new Duster is a competitive offer, especially if it has been expanded, although it is far from being able to improve the three-star crash test results of its predecessors with its comprehensive driving assistance systems. As for the prices, the base model with disc rims, analog instruments, and no central display starts at HUF 7.19 million, which nobody would actually buy anyway: 70 percent of our Dacia customers opt for the top-of-the-line equipment, which costs HUF 10.39 million with a full hybrid drive. We are eagerly waiting to see if this new SUV with a strong price-value ratio will be able to compete with the market-leading Suzukis.
A familiar name from the eighties
Do you still remember the Niva rival, the ARO 10, produced from 1980 and sold in Hungary at the same time? This model was offered in Britain (as a right-hand drive, of course) as the Dacia Duster, so the new SUV generation introduced in 2010 actually dusted off an old name.
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